


Keep me Warm

by Starnights200



Series: You'll Learn to Love Yourself [1]
Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: Angst?, Body Dysphoria, Gen, How Do I Tag, M/M, Panic Attacks, but not really, first attempt at writing fan fic, light shipping, oops this was meant to be short and sweet, teen because panic attack and body dysphoria
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:08:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24901315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starnights200/pseuds/Starnights200
Summary: As the nether update happens, Xisuma becomes a strider version of himself.angst and tears follow.
Series: You'll Learn to Love Yourself [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1803493
Comments: 4
Kudos: 97





	Keep me Warm

**Author's Note:**

> I saw the thumbnail for x’s new video and was inspired to write about a cold stridesuma.  
> Did not end up short and sweet like I was planning.
> 
> Enjoy.

Xisuma

It’s the night of the nether update, screens flash across Xisuma’s vision as he makes the final preparations to reset the nether. 

[xisumavoid] Nether will reset in 5 minutes. 

X sighs and takes off his helmet, it’s been a long time coming for this update and it’s finally here. He fiddles with his antenna and in the back of his mind he wonders if he’ll change form as he has with the past couple updates, he’s been enjoying his bee form and he would miss his wings if he did change. 

He checks the time, 2 minutes. Pulling up the hermits code, he shakes his head as he sees that Joe is on the nether roof. After sending a quick private chat to warn Joe of the time, he checks to make sure that no one else is in the nether. 

Glad to see that most hermits are at their bases, he turns his attention back to Joe. Oh Joe, always so last minute. X smiles as he watches Joe’s coordinates come closer to his portal, and a moment later he gets a message from Joe informing him that he’s clear of the nether. A quick look out of X’s window confirms that Joe is at his hexagonal portal at the jungle floor. Surrounded by dogs.  
Chuckling to himself about Joe’s dog catcher antics. He sends out one last message. 

[xisumavoid] Nether reset starting, please stay out of the nether until further notice. 

Double checking the code one more time, he finds nothing of concern. He flicks to the nether update and hits start.  
Everything goes black. 

Joe 

[xisumavoid] Nether will reset in 5 minutes. 

“Oh no! I still have dogs in the nether! Or... I mean... I think I saw some dogs in the nether.”  
Sprinting into the lighthouse Joe steps into his nether portal. 

Pulling out some rotten flesh, he whistles to get the pups attention.  
“Let’s pay our good friend Xisuma a visit.” Joe says to himself as he sets off sprinting towards the rainbow carpet trail. 

*ping* Joe glances at his communicator. 

[xisumavoid] Joe, I see you’re in the nether, this is your 2 minute warning. 

“Hurry up pups, we don’t want to be in here when Xisuma hits that reset.” 

The portal finally in sight Joe does a quick head count of the pups. He reaches the portal in no time and with some difficulty manages to get all the pups though into the overworld. Joe grabs his communicator and sends a message off to Xisuma to tell him he’s out of the nether. 

A moment later X announces the start of the update. 

Bringing the rotten flesh back to his hand, Joe sets off to find some creative spots to leave the dogs. 

Xisuma

When X wakes up, he’s slumped over his keyboard. His limbs feel numb and his head feels so heavy. Struggling, he looks to see how long he’s been out.  
30 minutes.  
Looking to the chat he finds questions from inpatient hermits about whether the update is done, and if they can finally go in the new nether.  
As he raises his arm to type in chat he’s surprised to see that he’s purple. What new creature is purple he thinks to himself. A violent shiver breaks any thoughts the admin had. So cold are his final thoughts before passing out once again. 

Joe

Ignoring the occasional ping from his communicator, Joe wanders through Xisuma’s base, exploring it, now that all the dogs have been placed.  
Finding himself at X’s main tower he decides to actually pay his friend a visit.  
A couple ender pearls later, Joe wanders into X’s main office room, where he often finds the admin. 

He pushes the door open with a light knock. “Xisumavo...” Joe is cut off by his own cry of surprise.  
Xisuma, who is now on the floor in the fetal position shivering, slowly turns to face Joe. His lips are swollen and on their way to turning black, another violent shiver racks though his body. “ pls, s-s-s-so co-o-old” is X’s quiet plea. 

Joe curses softly and searches quickly in his inventory for something to help his frozen admin. Finding a lava bucket, Joe quickly breaks a block close to Xisuma and dumps the bucket of hot lava into it. Pulling a random piece of wool out as well, Joe fashions a blanket to wrap his friend in. Pulling X into an embrace and placing the wool tightly around his shoulders, Joe pulls the pair right up to the lava. 

Joe looks X over closely for the first time since entering the room. “Whoa” is all Joe can say. Xisuma is no longer the bright yellow of a bee, instead a pale purple, the spots that are closest to the lava starting to turn a more lively red. X’s skin is cold to the touch and Joe removes the rest of X’s armor to start rubbing some heat into him. Barely conscious Xisuma pushes into the heat that Joe is providing. 

  
Xisuma

After a while, Xisuma can feel most of his body again, no longer the numb freezing pain that he was in before. Coming to his senses slowly, he notices that Joe is singing softly. With his ear right up against Joe’s chest the sweet melody drifts right into X’s head. Joe chuckles as Xisuma buries his face further into his chest. 

“Glad to see you’re finally awake, I was starting to worry ‘bout you. The transformation took a lot out of you this time round.”

Right, the transformation... “yep” is all that Xisuma can mutter out. 

“Well it’s still the middle of the night, do you want to move to a bed?”

Another yep falls out of X’s mouth.

As the sun rises the next morning, X extracts himself from the warmth of his bed, and the sleeping southerner. Putting on a warm robe, he shuffles to make himself some tea. As the kettle boils, he pulls up the chat on his communicator and checks up on the happenings from overnight. 

There’s lots of questions about the nether update and hermit’s begging to finally be allowed to enter. There’s a message from Joe telling people to be patient and wait until the morning. And the chat calms down after that. There's one question that is asked, that pulls X right out of his morning trance. 

“What is he this time?”

Running to the mirror down the hall, he takes one look at himself and cries. His beautiful yellow has been replaced by a burned red. There are strange appendages coming out the top of his head which he pulls at sharply. His eyes are sullen and wide, panic sets in as more and more thoughts flood into Xisuma’s head. Slowly he crumples to the floor as mean and cruel words race into his mind. His eyes run with tears and sobs begin to pour out from Xisuma’s new form. 

Joe

Joe is awoken suddenly when he hears Xisuma crash to the floor. Up in a moment, he rushes to find his admin crumpled on the floor once again. This time in front of a mirror. Pulling X away from the mirror and onto his lap, Joe wraps him in a tight hug and begins rubbing slow calming circles into his back. 

Slowly the sobbing softens and X turns to look at Joe. His sad eyes burn Joe’s soul. 

“What even am I supposed to be?” 

“You’re Xisuma, admin to Hermitcraft, and good friend.” 

“How could anyone want to be friends with that?” Xisuma spits out, pointing at the mirror. 

“Because true friends don’t judge on appearance, they look at the heart, and do you know what kind of heart you have Xisumavoid?”

“What?”

“You have one of the kindest hearts I’ve ever seen. And you know what X, we love you no matter what the universe decides to make you look like. And personally, I think the red looks dashing on you.”

X blushes at that remark and buries his face into Joe’s chest once more. 

-End-

**Author's Note:**

> That’s it, the end of the fic. Didn’t know how to end it, so we’re just gonna end on a sweet note. I hope you enjoyed my first attempt at some fanfiction. I don’t know what else to say about this.


End file.
